Stuffed Pork Chop with Roasted Cauliflower

The Grocery store had a sale on loin chops, and they had some nice thick ones; they also had some good Italian sausage on the cheap, so I decided I would stuff them.  My stuffing, of course, had to be Keto friendly, so I went with Goat cheese and the sausage. The goat cheese gives it a nice tang, also, it keeps the stuffing moist, and the Italian sausage, I used Hot of course, gave it a nice kick.  I paired it with a recipe for Roasted Cauliflower that I learned from a Chef when I was in culinary school, its simple, and delicious.

Ingredients:
 Makes 2 chops

2 pork chops, 1/5 inches thick
1/2 lb of cauliflower florets
1/2 lemon, zested
2 1/2 oz. Hot or Sweet Italian Sausage
2 oz Goat Cheese
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
S&P to taste
2 Tbsp Ghee or butter


Preheat your oven to 375°F

I roast the lemon along with the cauliflower, about half way through, you will want to squeeze the juice over the florets.

 On a baking sheet, lay your cauliflower florets in an even layer, sprinkle zest of the half of lemon,  and toss to evenly coat. stick in the oven. Then move on to your chops.

make sure you don't go all the way through

Start by taking the pork chops, and on the non-fat side make a slit with a sharp knife, from one end to the other.  make sure your pork chops are at least 1.5 inches thick, any thinner and the pork will dry out before the stuffing is fully cooked.

Stuffing, so versatile, so delicious.

Once you have made the slits, remove the sausage from the casing and take half and put into your mixing bowl along with the goat cheese.  With a fork, mash the cheese and sausage together until they are evenly incorporated.

Take half of the mixture and fill each chop, it should be stuffed nicely, but not overflowing, if yours are smaller chops, you may have enough for 3 chops.  Take toothpicks and stick them through to hold the opening together. In a cast iron or stainless steel pan, add the ghee and sear each side, and stick in the oven stuffing side up, to prevent leakage.

you want the temp of the stuffing to be 165°, so pull them from the oven when they are 155° and let rest for 5-10 min, covered. The carryover cooking will bring it up to the needed temp. Remove the florets from the oven, and again squeeze the roasted lemon juice over them.

done.

And of course, a shot from the middle.

 

6 grams of carbs, 33 grams of fat and 51 grams of protein.